Poland 'stepping up to provide much-needed European leadership'

Sky News military analyst Sean Bell has been reflecting on today's visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to neighbouring Poland.
The retired air vice marshal looks at the bigger picture - and concerns that Vladimir Putin may not wish to stop at Ukraine as he seeks to recreate a Soviet-era.

"For geographical and historical reasons Poland will be very nervous about what Mr Putin does next," said Bell.
"If you look on a map, you've got Belarus which is largely a Russian puppet regime and you've got Poland next which is why 80% of Poles are really keen to arm Ukraine.

"In terms of hardware they've given Ukraine - it's a whole load of tanks, they've had drones, even fighter jets."
Bell says this was part of a European effort to "step up", adding: "You've got the US presidential elections on the horizon and although America will still provide the lion's share of military and financial support to Ukraine, there's a yawning need for the Europeans to step up and provide some leadership - that's what Poland seems to be trying to do."

Going on to discuss the likely spring offensive Bell said: "What we can surmise from a military standpoint is that Bakhmut continues to be a highly attritional battle. 
"Russia will know that there is going to be a spring offensive at some point so what they should be doing is trying to preserve their military power for that. 

"If you look down in Crimea they are actually reinforcing their defences down there but up in Bakhmut and in the Donbas its full steam ahead. 

"So, what you'd have to conclude from that is that Mr Putin's objectives are to secure Crimea and keep the Donbas. 
"If Ukraine is to prevail with a spring counteroffensive and exploit the Western weapons, it's going to have to produce a really effective punch this springtime and it will need a lot of troops to do that."